Sean Mc Manus, Joe Kennedy and John Lewis in 1988
– Demonstrating at The British Embassy in Washington, DC.

Haven’t the British been rewriting past for decades?

Posted By: October 20, 2016

IRISH CONGRESSIONAL BRIEFING

Distributed by Irish National Caucus

“The Ballymurphy Massacre of 1971( mentioned in this Irish News article) remains one of the worst war crimes by the British Army in Northern Ireland.

The Irish National Caucus is proud to have facilitated the Ballymurphy Massacre Committee on Capitol Hill, arranging for its Chairman, John Teggart, to testify before Congress on March 16, 2011.We remain steadfast in our support for all victims in Northern Ireland, and we call on the British Government to come clean and finally admit its perfidious role—and that of its police, army/security forces and agents— in The Troubles.”

— Fr. Sean Mc Manus

Mary Murphy with her husband Joseph who was shot dead by the British Army in the 1971 Ballymurphy Massacre.

Mary was buried in August [2016] alongside her husband whose body had been exhumed for forensic examination.

Allison Morris. Irish News (Belfast). Thursday, October 29, 2016

It is one of the major failings of the Good Friday Agreement that the issue of victims was put to one side, with little consideration given to how to deal with the pain and trauma caused by conflict.

Attempts to right that wrong have been ongoing with limited success and much political point-scoring.

The 2009 Eames/Bradley report probably came closest to finding an acceptable way forward.

It fell down over a suggestion of a payment to Troubles victims that would not discriminate and mean both victims’ and victim-makers’ families could technically apply if they experienced loss.

While that may have seemed controversial seven years ago the millions of pounds that have been thrown at the issue since without proper redress would have paid for that financial payment 10 times over.

The Fresh Start came up with a number of mechanisms, not far from what was proposed back in 2009 and with a change in expectations as to what was possible and in the main was welcomed.

Given the massive challenges that have been overcome, what is now holding progress back seems minor in comparison, but with victims aging, the time for further negotiations is running out.

Secretary of State James Brokenshire has said dealing with the past cannot be a rewriting of the past but isn’t that just what the British have been doing for decades?

The depiction of the conflict in Northern Ireland as two warring tribes with the British government acting as a peace-keeping force is the narrative the State would prefer to have entered into the history books.

Instead, we know, even without a Historical Investigations Unit, that was far from the case. The State was [the] antagonist, running murderous IRA agents such as Stakeknife and drugged-up killer gangs such as the Mount Vernon UVF.

The latest hurdle in using a ‘national security’ veto over information released to the truth recovery mechanisms holds no water.

To first of all, to suggest the same methods are used against any current terror threat as were in place 40 years ago is a nonsense.

Redacting the personal details of still-living individuals has been used in numerous previous inquiries, reports and Ombudsman investigations all without security implications.

The mechanisms suggested in the Fresh Start will not fully accommodate all victims. Nothing ever could because each experience was different.

However, there is a very real chance to get truth recovery for those who still spend sleepless nights with unanswered questions roaming through their minds and give financial comfort to those injured so horrifically they were left unable to live a normal life.

It is not only the British government which has held up progress on providing answers to those who have suffered over decades of conflict.

Lord Chief Justice Declan Morgan has acknowledged that in the absence of a political settlement inquests are the only avenue open to some families. The attorney general also recognized this in granting fresh inquests.

The money has been made available but progress has been blocked by the DUP without any convincing explanation as to what’s behind their thinking.

In the meantime witnesses and loved ones die. Most recently Mary Murphy who lost her husband Joseph, shot dead in the 1971 Ballymurphy massacre, was buried in August alongside her husband whose body had been exhumed for forensic examination.

Their heartbreaking story is just one of hundreds.

On the BBC Sunday Politics program this week Sinn Féin’s Gerry Kelly refused to condemn his partners in government for blocking inquest funding, instead blaming the secretary of state.

Just as the British cannot be allowed to rewrite their historic failings in Northern Ireland the current coalition government shouldn’t be permitted to create a false narrative in order to put a non-aggression pact before the needs of victims.

Victims who no longer have the time to be used as political bargaining chips.

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